SONKGRAN THE THAI NEW YEAR

All the pictures are from Pattaya, it was way too hectic in the locations that I went to to carry a camera around. Also i'm kicking myself for realizing that I don't have any quality video of this great week, oh well, maybe I just have to come back again.

This past Songkran I had the privilege to celebrate my seventh Songkran in Thailand, three of them I’ve celebrated in Bangkok and the rest in Pattaya. This year I actually managed to do both Bangkok and Pattaya for the first time, I celebrated two nights in Bangkok and one in Pattaya. Bangkok being so big it is only celebrated in certain locations that are worth going to (if you want the ultimate water fight experience) such as Khao San road, Silom, and RCA. Other individual spots also arrange pool parties and foam parties such as the club Narsisist that has a foam party for every day of Songkran. This year also RCA arranged a massive concert with world class artists such as Afrojack and Deadmou5e to name a few.  For those who don’t know what Songkran is, it is the traditional Thai New Year and mainly celebrated in Thailand and is some other areas of South East Asia. The reason it is the New Year because it follows the Buddhist/Hindu solar calendar and the purpose of throwing water is because it’s a way of washing away the sins and bad luck. Often when locals come pour (or spray) water on you, they say Happy New Year or vice versa you can go pour (or again, spray) it on the locals and often they will acknowledge you with a smile and Wai (putting the hands together and bowing the head).

Me personally I was at Khao San twice and club narsisist once and the first thing you realize is that once you get to Khao San road is that it is packed, very packed with people. It takes a good solid hour to walk through from one end to the other end. The atmosphere is great, people are soaking wet and shooting water at each other in all directions and everyone seems to be dancing as soon as they hear music, the mood is very festive to say the least. Sonkgran is a great way to connect with the locals as they rarely go out in such a fashion as they do on Songkran. If you are at Khao San I suggest you pick wisely a street bar to park at with your friends, order a bucket or drinks and just stand there shooting at by walkers while listening to good music. This is always the best way because you avoid being in the crowds and have space while still part taking in the water fighting. 

As Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday rolled past and Bangkok sonkgran was celebrated once again, I left for Pattaya on Friday, where Songkran is celebrated on Sunday which I was sure not to miss.  Having celebrated some of my most memorable Songkran’s there I was really looking forward to it. My friends and I have a tradition of getting a pick-up truck and a driver to drive us around the town from noon onwards. From the back of this pick-up we shoot and throw water stopping in front of people who have water fights on the streets and honestly it is the best way to do it. In Pattaya the streets are everywhere flooded with people within the immediate area, the cars are all packed with people throwing water and the whole city is in a festive mood.  Beach road (the main road) is closed for water fighters; think of Khao San road but twice as long and twice as wide and everyone throwing water. It’s amazing how fast a good solid six hours can go by when you have so much fun, and if you are hungry, need water or anything it is all within an arm’s reach on the side of the streets as people sell all of the above mentioned items next to the street at every short interval. When Songkraning you let your inner kid out, you have to. You throw and splash water at everyone and everyone does it back to you, and everyone does it with a constant smile on their face. You notice yourself just dancing to the loud music blaring from the people who party and splash water on the side of the street even stopping and jumping around with them, pulling people into your truck and so on. There is no feeling like it and honestly anyone who is in Thailand during this time period I dare you to leave Bangkok and try out other locations for Songkran such as Chiang Mai (heard it is one of the premier places), the North East (Isan) or even the islands down South.

After it gets dark we leave the car and head up to beach road by foot where the non-stop water fighting continues, Beach road is so wide so they manage to set up DJ sets and stages for people to party in front of, also the street vendors are in full mode selling everything from food to water guns, if you are one of the lucky ones who can keep going for a solid 12 plus hours then you definitely will end up at the walking street which is at the very end of beach road and has all the clubs and bars, some clubs even allow people to water fight indoors so don’t even consider yourself being safe from the water at any point . For me personally I wasn’t up to it this year, I called it quits way before midnight and headed for a well-deserved rest. Five days out of a seven day Songkran week isn’t a bad achievement in my books. Till next year, or the next time.

LAOS

Back in Mid March I headed off to Vientiane, the capital of Laos. This was my first backpack trip, I actually bought a serious backpack for this trip (which I still use till this day). I've basically never done serious backpacking still till this day, I'm sure it's a hoot and a half. The purpose of this trip was to do a Visa run because in Thailand you have to get your passport stamped every four months either by going to the government offices and waiting all day or on the border, so why wouldn't we take this opportunity to backpack out of the country. We took the train to the border from Bangkok, hopped on multiple other vehicles between the border and our destination before finally arriving at the capital. From an overall perspective Vientiane is a very quiet capital, it's obviously less developed than Bangkok and there's not too many people around.
We stayed in a hotel (against backpacking rules) for the sole reason because it was cheap. Basically we spent our day looking at temples because the city has plenty of them and good ones too and driving our motorbikes around the city. There wasn't honestly that much to do so two days went by really fast.

RAILAY BEACH & KOH PHI PHI

First I would like to just point out that not for every post there is going to be a long text (luck you who don't wish to read my blabberings) because I simply haven't covered it for my work or otherwise. But there will be pictures that I wish to share as some of these places have been spectacular! The rest of the text is after the pictures so you lazy ones can just stare at the pictures if you wish, I know I would.

 Railay beach which is a secluded Peninsula and beach area located between Krabi and Ao Nang cities that is only accessible by an half hour boat ride. This was our destination back in March, this place is perfect for anyone looking for a discreet location with great beaches and overall terrific atmosphere. Theres only couple high end hotels and the rest are bungalow cheaper kind of hotels, this is exactly where we stayed at. Railay beach is perfect and popular for backpackers, its quiet, 'not a lot on the island in terms of comfort, only a few mini marts and the rest are granny shops. Lots of restaurants to choose from but just because of the sheer small size of the location there isn't lots in terms of infrastructure.

We spent couple nights at Railay beah then headed off to Phi Phi island which is known now a days as a party island and is located just South East of Phuket island. Of course you can stay away from the center of it all, go on snorkling and island hopping trips instead (which we failed to do, sigh). It was great to see how well the island has managed after the destruction that the tsunami left, the island has really re-invented itself and managed to become even better as a tourist attraction.
Anyhow, i'll let the pictures do the talking!

KOH PHAGNAN & THE FULL MOON PARTY

In beginning of April we did a trip down south to the island of Koh Phangan with the intention of attending the world famous full moon party, which basically is a party held once a month when there is a full moon. For some this was the party to be at during our exchange tenure, so there was somewhere around thirty of us exchange students heading there.  I personally took the trip down with a train to Surat Thani leaving Wednesday evening and arriving early Thursday morning, then taking the bus from Surat Thani to the pier where we hopped on board the ferry that headed towards Koh Phangan going through Koh Samui on the way. Now this trip took a total of 17hours which sounds like a long trip but personally after taking the bus back the whole way through I can say that stick with the train if you can get a sleeper cart (meaning second or first class) and price wise its couple hundred baht cheaper.

Upon arrival in Koh Phangan our hotel was situated all the way on the other side island as the location of the full moon was on the other side, we were pretty skeptical to be honest at this point as it was so far away. However once we arrived at the Starlight resort all these doubts were erased. Our hotel was at the best possible location and this was verified throughout the trip. Our hotel had an infinity type pool that opened up straight to the white sandy beaches and lagoon in the Thong Nai Pan Yai beach area. Our hotel was called the Starlight Resort, with very basic but more than acceptable rooms (considering we didn’t spend time in the rooms anyways).

Next to our hotels reception there was a minimart with all the basic necessities and down the road there was a seven-eleven if the minimart wasn’t enough. Also on both sides of our hotel there was one beach side restaurant and on the other side a more swanky type restaurant/bar with delicious pizza and a pool table to spend the evenings or even during the day if the sun gets too hot. Personally this location was the most ideal for anyone looking to get away from all the noise and commotion that the Full Moon Party brings with, it was quiet no tourists running around and the beach was one of the cleanest I’ve seen in Thailand. As we settled in we mostly spent our days alternating between the beach and pool, and if hunger took over we just walked over to one of the restaurants.  This was how Thursday was spent, few others who went on to check out the local ‘’it’’ parties such as the jungle party took the long (and expensive) trip there but came away only disappointed as the trip there, entrance, drinks and overall vibe was not good from what I heard. After a while living in Thailand you begin to notice the difference between tourist prices and regular prices and this is a very big turnoff for me. Some people of course enjoy these more touristy parties as they are good and the atmosphere can be great but I’m more old/school in that sense that I just stay away from them for the most part.

As Friday rolled around we were all ready for the main event for everyone on the island, the Full Moon Party! Around 15 of us hopped into the pick-up truck and others took their rented motorbikes to the full moon party location. Once there, there were street food stands, bucket stands and body painting spots everywhere. This was all away from the beach where the full moon party itself was; we grabbed some food and drinks and headed to the beach. The beach itself is very long but was packed especially in front of the different bars/clubs where the music blares on to the beach and dancing people. There were also live music stages but I never made it that far. Overall it was what one might expect, lots of tourists some Thai people all wearing neon clothing and bathing suits and body paintings dripping off from the sheer amount of sweating. If u looks beyond the partying the beach was littered with trash and people took bathroom breaks straight into the ocean. The atmosphere was great and especially that we were in a big group with people we knew it was fun. However I was in the group of first people to leave so no all-night all morning dancing and partying for me and no watching the sunset from the beach, I was off to bed  ‘’early’’.  

Saturday we got back to our routine of just pool side hanging out knowing the next morning we will leave this paradise. While taking a dip or two in the ocean, eating well and just soaking in the sun and the pure atmosphere of hanging around on the quiet white beach, I couldn’t help but think at this point that I must come back and soon! I made the decision there and then that I will be back very soon to this very location as it is by far the best spot I have been at during my tenure in Thailand so far (knowing there are more great spots to discover of course). 

I'M BACK AND I'M IN THAILAND!

Hi there!

It's been a while since I have done anything here , however now i'm back as you can see!

I'll make this re-introduction brief and straight to the point, so I am currently in Thailand where I arrived in January for my mandatory half-year exchange semester abroad as part of my ongoing studies back home in Finland, and yes I am still here and its already August almost as you might know. Why? Well I also have a mandatory half year internship that I have to complete and what better place than Thailand since I was here already, okay that wasn't entirely true, I always had the intention of returning here since I have strong ties to this part of the world having lived here previously on two different occasions for a total of seven years and of course ten years in total in South East Asia.

As my internship I am currently working as a sort of resident blogger for an upcoming website that I will reveal later on, it currently has had its soft opening and will go fully public in September, the same guys run a very successful website for tourists who wish to visit Thailand http://www.minnethaimaassa.com/ (sorry its in Finnish), but fear not the upcoming website will be fully in Englsih and a few other languages. My work has enabled me to travel around Thailand and given me the privilage to call it work. Basically everywhere I go and what I do is an opportunity for me to call work so I take pictures and write about it.

Now the writings and pictures have been piling up on my hard-drive and I intend to share them with all of you and myself to look back on something. All the travels have taken place in the last half year or so, its not all too informational but rather my own feeling and take on everything.

Feel free to follow my blog and I hope this inspires some of you to come and visit this part of the world. If you have any questions just hit me up!